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Another Christmas has come and gone, and while consumer spending may not have tallied what it has in the past, it is likely a lot of people incurred far more debt than they should have. Now comes the perennial challenge of paying off Christmas!
As with many families, Uncle Sam has also been on an uncontrolled spending binge. Every day, the federal government spends billions of dollars more than it receives in tax revenues. In fact, the United States reportedly owes investors nearly $8 trillion dollars. Congress has once again raised the ceiling on the national debt, enabling lawmakers to continue their spendthrift ways.
Frankly, folks, Washington is out of control. War, a deep recession, and entitlements are taking an enormous toll, yet lawmakers can't find the gumption to turn off the spending spigot. As investment guru Warren Buffet recently declared, the U.S. is fiscally in uncharted territory. It doesn't take the genius of a Warren Buffet to know, as he suggests, that the very stability of the world's largest economy is threatened as never before.
As with Christmas shopping, it may seem a few dollars more on an overburdened credit card won't have much impact . . . until, of course, the accounts come due. As holiday shoppers know, it happens every year.
